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Egypt’s military has authorized the Egyptian Football
Association (EFA) to resume league matches this weekend a year after they were
suspended in the wake of a politically loaded brawl that left 74 soccer fans
dead.

The move a day after Defense Minister and armed forces
commander Gen. Abdel Fattah El Sissi warned of a potential “collapse of the
state” signals the military’s expanding involvement in Egypt’s worsening crisis
and threatens to pit it against militant soccer fans or ultras who hold it
co-responsible for the worst incident in Egyptian sports history.

The emergence of the Black Bloc, a group of battle-hardened
militant soccer fans or ultras dressed in black with their faces hidden behind
black mask that has intervened in recent days to protect protesters against the
security forces and what they describe as Muslim Brotherhood thugs, adds to the
powder keg. A militant Islamist group has already asserted that Black Bloc
members should be killed.

It was not immediately clear what motivated the military to
assume a responsibility of the interior ministry whose police and security
forces are preoccupied with quelling protests against the government of
President Mohammed Morsi by authorizing the resumption of soccer.

Analysts are divided about whether it constitutes an
ill-conceived attempt to maintain a façade of normalcy and demonstrate that the
military and the security forces can secure Egypt’s streets or the creation of
an opportunity to crack down on militant, highly politicized, well-organized
and street battle experience fan groups as well as others that may be
organizing themselves as militias or vigilantes. In doing so, the military
would be tapping into a yearning among a majority of protest-weary Egyptians
who yearn for a return to normalcy.

The government and the EFA have been further under pressure
from clubs and players to lift the suspension of soccer that has hit them hard
financially and undermined player morale.

Ultras, 21 of which were sentenced to death last weekend on
charges of responsibility for the deaths in Port Said, play an important part
in the anti-Morsi protests. Their relationship with the military soured in the
last two years after their key role in the toppling two years ago of President
Hosni Mubarak because of their militant opposition to military rule that led
Egypt from the rule of Mr. Mubarak to that of Mr. Morsi and their growing
rejection of the Muslim Brotherhood leader’s government.

The resumption of professional soccer in the midst of a
political crisis that has erupted on the streets of Egyptian cities constitutes
a rejection of the ultras’ insistence that matches only be restarted once
justice has been served in the Port Said case and their insistence that fans in
contradictions to the military-endorsed terms of the interior ministry be
allowed to attend matches.

The 21 condemned to death row, supporters of Port Said’s Al
Masri SC, were among 73 people, including nine mid-level security officials on
trial for the death of primarily supporters of crowned Cairo club Al Ahli SC at
the end of a match between the two in the Suez Canal city. The verdict has
reinforced widespread discontent on both sides of the soccer divide and across
Egypt.

In Port Said it reinforced a sense that the city was being
scapegoated for an incident that constituted an attempt that got out of hand to
reign in militant soccer fans. Al Ahli militants share Port Said's perception that the incident in their city was not spontaneous or coincidental..

The court’s delay until March 9 of the sentencing of the remaining 52
defendants, including the security officials, as well as the fact that it has
yet to address the question of who was really responsible for the incident
spoke directly to one of the issues fueling the anti-Morsi campaign: the fact
that virtually no one has been held accountable until now for the deaths of
more than 800 protesters since the revolt against Mr. Mubarak erupted.

The government and the EFA have failed on several occasions
in the past six months to lift the suspension of soccer. The interior ministry
and the ultras both opposed it for different reasons. The ministry long wanted
to avoid renewed street battles with the ultras in a bid to shore up the
tarnished image of its police and security forces who are despised as the
repressive arm of the Mubarak regime and are now seen by the ultras and others
as the enforcers of the new Mubarak, Mr. Morsi.

Mr. Morsi ordered on Wednesday the shortening of curfews in
three Suez Canal cities – Port Said, Suez and Ismailia – amid so far unsuccessful
attempts to engage the opposition in dialogue. The military’s authorization of
the resumption of soccer authorization of the resumption of soccer, consistent
with the misreading of the public mood by the armed forces, threatens to
complicate the president’s efforts and fails to address the issues underlying
the protests in Egypt – a cry for justice, greater transparency and
inclusivity, reform of Mubarak era state institutions first and foremost among
which the police and security forces, and recovery of an economy in decline.

To ensure security and minimize the risk of confrontation, the
defense ministry said in a statement quoted by Al Ahram Online that the first
half of the resumed league would be played in military stadiums. The ministry
said further that matches scheduled to be played in Suez Canal and Red Sea
cities would be hosted elsewhere. Al Masri moreover bowed to pressure to
abstain itself from the initial league season to avoid increased tension. The
military aware of the evocative power of soccer owns several soccer clubs and
military-owned construction companies have built a number of Egypt’s stadiums.

James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam
School of International Studies, co-director of the University of Wuerzburg’s
Institute for Fan Culture, and the author of The Turbulent World of Middle East
Soccer blog.

There will be more deaths to come, as Morsi seems determined to crush and not heed the opposition. The great tragedy is that clearly, as long as there is no justice there won’t be peace, stresses Dave Zirin.

If you want to understand why Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has declared a "state of emergency" or if you want to understand why the country’s defense minister warned Tuesday of "the collapse of the state,” you first need to understand the soccer fan clubs in Egypt -- otherwise known as the "ultras" -- and the role they played in the revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

Under Mubarak’s three decade kleptocratic rule, the hyper-intense ultras -- made up almost entirely of young Egyptian men -- were given near-free reign to march in the streets, battle the police and, of course, fight each other. This has been a common practice in autocracies across the world: don’t allow political dissent but for the young, male masses allow violent soccer clubs to exist as a safety valve to release the steam.

Mubarak, surely to his eternal regret, underestimated what could happen when steam gets channeled into powering a full-scale revolt. After revolution in Tunisia spurred the Egyptian uprising, the ultras transformed themselves in the moment and played a critical role in securing Tahrir Square, setting up checkpoints, and fighting off the police. This is not to say it was seamless. As one Egyptian revolutionary said to me, “In those first days, the Ultras were indispensable. But the hardest thing, it felt like at times, was to keep them all focused on the goal [of removing Mubarak] and keep them from killing each other.”

Distinguished by their uniform of skinny jeans and hoodies, they quickly became objects of admiration in Tahrir Square. "They stayed there in the square almost through 100 hours of fighting," said protester Mosa'ab Elshamy. "It’s easy to notice them because of their use of Molotov cocktails, their extreme courage and recklessness, their chants. They became a common sight."

Their strength as a coherent and durable political force was seen after Mubarak was removed and a military junta assumed power. The ultras didn’t dissipate but remained on the front lines pushing for changes that would go beyond the cosmetic.

Then came Port Said. One year ago, 74 people died in clashes that followed a soccer game between visiting Al-Ahly and Port Said’s Al-Masri. People were stabbed and beaten when Al-Masri fans rushed the field after their team's 3-1 victory. The majority of deaths, however, took place because of asphyxiation as Al-Ahly fans were crushed against locked stadium doors.

There is ample video evidence that shows the military and security forces complicit in these deaths, either through inaction or worse. As James Dorsey of the Middle Eastern Soccer Blog wrote, “The incident is widely seen as an attempt that got out of hand by the then military rulers of the country and the police and security forces to cut militant, highly politicized, street battle-hardened soccer fans or ultras down to size.”

This tragedy, however, immediately took on a political, anti-regime dimension. Instead of one ultra group pledging death to the other, they blamed the junta and their hated police. Diaa Salah of the Egyptian Football Federation said, “The government is getting back at the ultras. They are saying, ‘You protest against us, you want democracy and freedom. Here is a taste of your democracy and freedom.'”

The current crisis stems from that moment. Last week, the verdicts came down in the Port Said “soccer riot” and twenty-one people were sentenced to hang. Not one of the twenty-one was from the state and security forces. The message was clear. Even though Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood were now in charge, this government would be no different: protecting and defending their state at the expense of justice. It is true that the Al-Ahly fan club initially praised the verdict for providing closure for the families who lost loved ones, but this quickly soured into frustration. There was nothing to celebrate as the people in Port Said rose violently first in opposition to the verdict, then in opposition to the brutal state repression ordered by Morsi, and now in opposition to the regime itself.

As Dorsey wrote, “Neither the ruling nor government policy to date addresses an equally fundamental demand that both Al-Masri and Al-Ahly fans share: the need for a thorough reform of the police and security forces. The riots in the wake of the court verdict constitute the peak of an iceberg of growing discontent in Egypt with the government’s failure to hold accountable police and security forces believed to be responsible for the death of more than 800 protesters since mass demonstrations erupted two years ago against the Mubarak regime and to address the country’s economic decline as well as Mr. Morsi’s rushing through of a controversial new constitution.”

The days of Morsi’s reign are now being challenged in Cairo where on Monday demonstrators battled police in street fights that lasted for hours. In Suez, thousands left their homes and marched at 9pm in violation of curfew laws. And at Ground Zero, in Port Said, demonstrators declared their own state while thousands chanted, “LEAVE! LEAVE!” to Morsi, the same rallying cry used in the last days of Mubarak. The future for Morsi is unclear but what is clear is that the ultra clubs aren’t leaving the stage of Egypt’s history until there is justice and those in the state and military apparatus are held accountable not only for what took place in Port Said, but for all the hundreds who’ve been killed protesting over the last two years. Since this latest eruption, 60 more are now confirmed dead including Tamer al-Fahla, former goalkeeper of the al-Masri team, and Mohammad al-Dadhwi who played for Port Said’s al-Mareekh team. There will be more deaths to come, as Morsi seems determined to crush and not heed the opposition. The great tragedy is that clearly, as long as there is no justice there won’t be peace.

Dave Zirin is the author of Bad Sports: How Owners Are Ruining the Games We Love (Scribner)

Beyond The Pitch

James Dorsey - Jan 2013

James Dorsey of Senior Fellow at the Rajaratnam School of International Studies
in Singapore makes his second appearance on the show to help us break down the situation after renewed violence erupted in the wake of a number of death sentences handed down from the Egyptian judiciary in response to the incident at Port Said. The accused Al-Masry fans were charged in the deaths of 74 fans from Al-Ahly soccer club during a match in Port Said last February, a day after the two year anniversary of the revolution that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak. James provides the kind of deep dive analysis and insight into this tragedy, the challenges and objectives of a post-revolutionary government struggling to reform its institutions and how long-standing perceptions both in terms of that judiciary and the security forces help shape public opinion and deep seated internal turmoil based on decades of repression. We examine how the issues in Egypt will serve as a series of challenges for the Morsi government and what some of the options may be while also being cognizant of the prejudices and historical comparisons with another Muslim country in Turkey where actual reform and serious change took not years, but decades itself. We also examine the concept of what dignity looks like for the ultras and protesters in the street, how perception can only be altered after many deeds over a long period of time and why Morsi will have some key domestic choices and international relationships to manage in the coming months. These measures would seem to include new legislation that would enforce independence of public prosecutors and separate them from investigative authorities, an independent commission to investigate cases of death and serious injury caused by police and
security forces, while regulating the use of force and firearms in a nation left largely
broken on the heels of revolution. We close on the matter of examining what steps
Morsi and the government could do to avert further riots and demonstrations on March 9th, when the sentencing of another 54 defendants is handed down, including the former officers. As always, there are few that can provide the level of context and perspective that James Dorsey can, so if you want to seriously understand the ramifications inside the country, this is a serious subject matter expert with some fabulous insight.

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Racism raised its ugly head twice in the Middle East in
recent weeks: Anti-Muslim, anti-Arab supporters of right wing Israeli soccer
club Beitar Jerusalem rejected the hiring of two Chechen Muslim players while
Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi struggled to play down anti-Semitic remarks
he made two years ago.

The two incidents reflect the region’s battle to come to
grips with the fact that it is populated by a myriad of ethnic, national,
religious and sectarian groups. Widespread racism coupled with assertions of at
times exclusionary rights and an unwillingness to recognize and honor others’
national and minority rights has become all the more glaring amid a regional
push for greater freedom in a swath of land stretching from the Atlantic coast
of Africa to the Gulf.

While Christians view with suspicion and fear the rise of
Islamist forces in post-revolt Arab nations and nervous anticipation change in
nations that have yet to be hit by the wave of protests, efforts in Mali to
achieve greater rights for the Tuaregs have been overtaken by jihadist forces
that prompted a French military effort to regain control of the northern part
of the country.

Christians in war-torn Syria first backed embattled
President Bashar al-Assad and now frequently stand on the side lines, fearful
that the potential emergence of jihadists and Islamists as his successor may
mean that their days in the country are numbered.

In Israel, the rejection by
supporters of Beitar Jerusalem, the storied bad boy of Israeli soccer that is the
only club that systematically refuses to hire Palestinian players although they
rank among Israel’s top performers, responded furiously to Beitar owner and billionaire
of Russian origin Arcadi Gaydamak’s hiring of two Muslim players from Chechen
team Terek Grozny. Mr. Gaydamak auspiciously made his announcement on
International Holocaust Remembrance Day and only days after he lost an appeal
against his conviction in France on charges of corruption.

Their response constitutes a
reflection of prejudice towards Muslims in Israel despite the fact the fans’
response sparked sharp criticism and that the Israeli Football Association
(IFA) is the only soccer body in the region that has launched an anti-racism
campaign.

“If we accept that racism is still
alive and well outside the arena, then sports would have to exist in a
hermetically sealed, airtight environment in order to remain uninfected.
Impossible. If we accept that, yes, race and racism are still live issues in
sports, then we need to realize how these issues are debated and discussed
therein has a profound effect on how they are discussed and understood in our
broader culture,” says US sports journalist in a newly published book, ‘Game
Over, How Politics has Turned the World Upside Down.’

In an interview with Ynet, Mr
Gaydamak said that “as far as I'm concerned, there is no difference between a
Jewish player and a Muslim player. We must look at things professionally, we
must treat them nicely and fairly. There have always been good relations
between the Muslims in Russia and the Caucasus and the Jews."

Mr. Gaydamak was further quoted in
the Israeli press as saying that his club’s poor performance and financial
troubles had made it possible to stand up against the racism of its fans. “This
is something that we’ve wanted to do at Beitar for many years, and it’s been
made possible now because of the team’s financial state and the need to
strengthen the squad. The aim is to put
an end to the racism that has been doing harm to Beitar over the years, and not
to give in to a handful of extremists,” he said.

Yet, even defenders of Mr.
Gaydamak’s move couched their arguments in questionable terms. "I don't
understand the fans who don't want to see a Muslim player in Beitar. There are
a billion Muslims in the world and we must learn how to live with them. There
is a difference between a European Muslim and an Arab Muslim, and the fans here
have a problem with Arabs living in the Middle East,” said Beitar coach Eli
Cohen.

Similarly, Beitar spokesman Assaf
Shaked drew a distinction between Muslims and Arabs. “We are against racism and
against violence and we pay a price for our fans. But we aren’t going to bring
an Arab player just to annoy the fans,” Mr. Shaked said.

In a strongly worded letter to IFA
chairman Avi Luzon, Israeli president Shimon Peres said: "I appeal,
through you, to all football fans to refrain from all expressions and
manifestations of racism in football stadiums and outside of them. Racism has struck the Jewish people harder
than any other nation in the world. The
authorities must prevent it before it starts. Today, sport is a universal
declaration against racism. It is unacceptable for the opposite to take place
in Israel.”

Beitar fans cursed Mr. Gaydamak
during their club’s match last Saturday against Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv and vowed
to prevent the Muslim players from playing. “This will happen over my dead
body. We won't accept it. Every second they're on the field we'll drive them
mad until they ask to leave," one fan said. “Beitar will remain pure
forever,” read a Beitar banner during the match. Nigerian defender Ibrahim
Nadala left Beitar several year ago after being verbally harassed by fans.

Beitar has the worst disciplinary record in Israel’s Premier
League. Since 2005 it has faced more than 20 hearings and has received various
punishments, including point deductions, fines and matches behind closed doors
because of its fans’ racist behavior.

Beitar fans last year stormed a Jerusalem mall and beat up
Palestinian shoppers and workers. They subsequently attacked a Jewish woman
musician on a Jerusalem street because she denounced their politics.

Beitar’s matches often resemble a Middle Eastern
battlefield. It’s mostly Sephardic fans of Middle Eastern and North African
origin, revel in their status as the bad boys of Israeli soccer. Their dislike
of Ashkenazi Jews of East European extraction rivals their disdain for
Palestinians.

Supported by Israeli right wing leaders such as Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Beitar traces its roots to a revanchist Zionist
youth movement. Its founding players actively resisted the pre-state British
mandate authorities.

Beitar fans shocked Israelis when they refused to observe a
moment of silence for assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who initiated
the first peace negotiations with the Palestinians.

The row over Mr. Gaydamak’s acquisition of Muslim players
echoes post-election Israeli political discussions. Yair Lapid, whose Yesh Atid
(There is a Future) center left party did surprisingly well in this month’s
election, was quick to assure Israelis that he had no intention of cooperating
with Palestinian members of the Israeli parliament.

“I heard talk about a blocking majority- I want to take this
off the table. We will not do that with Haneen Zoabiz – it is not going to
happen,” Mr. Lapid, using a play on deputy Zoabi’s last name to use it as a
plural for Arabs.

Anti-Muslim and anti-Arab expressions come cheap in Israel.
So do anti-Semitic utterances in Egypt. Speaking earlier this month to visiting
US senators, President Morsi said anger over his description of Jews three
years ago "bloodsuckers" and "the descendants of apes and
pigs" had been overblown because of Jewish control of the American media.

Mr. Morsi’s remarks, Beitar’s defense of the hiring of
Muslims who are not Arabs, Christian concerns about their future in the Middle
East and North Africa and the failed Tuareg bid in Mali for greater rights
serve as stark reminders that the push for greater freedom in the region is
still in its initial phase and will only succeed if those clamoring for dignity
and rights recognize that this has to apply to all.

James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam
School of International Studies, co-director of the University of Wuerzburg’s
Institute for Fan Culture, and the author of The Turbulent World of Middle East
Soccer blog.

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

President Mohammed Morsi’s imposition of a curfew in three
Egyptian Suez Canal and Red Sea cities may temporarily reduce violent street
opposition to his policies but like this weekend’s initial verdict in the case
against those responsible for last year’s death of 74 soccer fans in Port Said
will do little to return political stability to the country.

While the move caters to a craving among many protest-weary
Egyptians for a return to normalcy that would help put the country on a path of
economic growth, it reinforces perceptions of Mr. Morsi as an autocratic leader
with an Islamist agenda rather than a man willing and capable of reforming
state institutions molded under his toppled predecessor, Hosni Mubarak, in a
country that has just emerged from three decades of repressive emergency rule.

At the root of growing discontent in the country is the
government’s failure to hold accountable those responsible for the death of
more than 800 people since the eruption of mass protests that forced Mr.
Mubarak to resign after 30 years in office, Mr. Morsis’s apparent inability to
convincingly reach out to his critics, his rushed adoption of a controversial
constitution, and the government’s failure to tackle an economy in decline.

This weekend’s initial sentencing to death of 21 supporters
of Port Said’s Al Masri SC soccer club and postponement until March 9 of a
verdict in the case of 52 other defendants accused of responsibility for the
worst incident a year ago in Egyptian soccer history has served only to
reinforce deep-seated mistrust of Mr. Morsi. This is all the more the case
given that the court has yet to publish its justification of the sentencing and
did not include any of the nine mid-level security officials in its initial
verdict.

Supporters of Al Masri as well as crowned Cairo club Al Ahli
SC and a broad swath of Egyptian public opinion believe that the violence that
erupted last year at the end of a match between the two in Port Said’s stadium in
which mostly Al Ahli fans were killed was much more than a simple soccer brawl.

The incident is widely seen as an attempt that got out of
hand by the then military rulers of the country and the police and security
forces to cut militant, highly politicized, street battle-hardened soccer fans
or ultras down to size.

The multitude of ultras organizations, one of the largest civic
groups in Egypt after Mr. Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood, with supporters of Al
Ahli and its Cairo arch rival Al Zamalek in the lead played a key role in the
toppling two years ago of president Hosni Mubarak, subsequent opposition to
military rule and protests against Mr. Morsi’s authoritarian style of
government and failure to address a worsening economic crisis.

In imposing curfews and calling on the military to restore
law and order in Port Said, where 32 protesters were killed this weekend in the
hours after the announcement of the verdict, as well as in Suez and Ismailia,
without linking it to reforms of the police and security forces as well as the
judiciary constitutes at best a band aid that allows the wound to fester.

At the core of the violence is a deep-seated hatred between
the ultras and other youth groups and law enforcement, the most despised institutions
in Egypt that are widely viewed as the repressive arm of the Mubarak regime who
until today are a law unto themselves.

In fact, much of the post-Mubarak violence stems from
clashes between the ultras and security forces. The ultras’ battle is a battle
for karama or dignity. Their dignity is vested in their ability to stand up to
the dakhliya or interior ministry which they are happy to confront at every
opportunity.

That dignity is unlikely to be fully restored until the
police and security forces have been reformed – a task Mr. Morsi’s government
has so far largely shied away from. The foot-dragging in holding security
officers accountable in the case of Port Said and the deaths of hundreds of
protesters in the last two years has reinforced perceptions of the police and
security forces as institutions that in the words of scholars Eduardo P.
Archetti and Romero Amilcar are “exclusively destined to harm, wound, injure,
or, in some cases, kill other persons.”

A human rights report published last week by the Egyptian
Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) concluded that “the Egyptian police
continue to systematically deploy violence and torture, and at times even kill.
Although the January revolution was sparked in large part by police practices
and vocally demanded an end to these practices, accountability for all offenders
and the establishment of permanent instruments to prevent their recurrence, two
years after the revolution the situation remains unchanged.”

EIPR charged that the “police, acting like a street gang,
enforce vigilante justice on those who wrong them, in utter disregard for the
law or professionalism.” The ultras lead the pack of those the police and
security forces believe have wronged them.

The group proposed a series of measures that the Morsi
government could implement and in which it should have embedded its imposition
of curfews. The measures include legislation that would guarantee the
independence of public prosecutors and separate them from investigative
authorities, establish an independent commission that would investigate cases
of death and serious injury caused by police personnel, create an independent
commission to monitor detention facilities and grant civil rights groups access
to detention facilities, and amend laws that regulate the use of force and
firearms by police and security forces.

In failing to couple law enforcement with reforms, Mr. Morsi
is likely to only harden fault lines in post-Mubarak Egypt. The 30-day curfew
in the three cities ends barely two weeks before the Cairo court rules in the
case of the remaining 52 defendants in the Port Said trial on March 9. That
ruling is likely to constitute another flashpoint unless the president
convincingly acts in the meantime to demonstrate that he is serious about
reform and not just another autocrat.

To be sure, Mr. Morsi is caught between a rock and a hard
place. While he may well be sincere in his call for dialogue with his critics
and expressed desire for change, he seems more a man shaped by an organization
that lived clandestinely for much of its 80 year-old history, operated briefly under
Mr. Mubarak in a legal nether land and until today has not been formally
recognized rather than a leader capable of reaching out and building bridges in
a deeply divided country in the midst of a messy political transition.

Mr. Morsi’s fate and with it that of his Muslim Brotherhood in
Egypt as well as in other parts of a region that is at the beginning of a
decade of political change from which Muslim Brothers potentially stand to
benefit depends on his ability to throw off the chains of his past and embrace
the kind of outreach and compromise necessary to bring Egypt back from the
brink.

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About Me

James M DorseyWelcome to The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer by James M. Dorsey, a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. Soccer in the Middle East and North Africa is played as much on as off the pitch. Stadiums are a symbol of the battle for political freedom; economic opportunity; ethnic, religious and national identity; and gender rights. Alongside the mosque, the stadium was until the Arab revolt erupted in late 2010 the only alternative public space for venting pent-up anger and frustration. It was the training ground in countries like Egypt and Tunisia where militant fans prepared for a day in which their organization and street battle experience would serve them in the showdown with autocratic rulers. Soccer has its own unique thrill – a high-stakes game of cat and mouse between militants and security forces and a struggle for a trophy grander than the FIFA World Cup: the future of a region. This blog explores the role of soccer at a time of transition from autocratic rule to a more open society. It also features James’s daily political comment on the region’s developments. Contact: incoherentblog@gmail.comView my complete profile